Effect of DC-pulsed magnetron sputtering power on structural, tribological and biocompatibility of Ti–Zr–N thin film

The DC-pulsed magnetron sputtering was employed to deposit Ti–Zr–N thin film on AISI 316 substrates. All the plasma parameters were kept to be constant except the plasma-processing power which was varied from 125 to 250 W. The structure, tribological, electrochemical and biocompatibility properties of Ti–Zr–N films have been investigated. X-ray patterns confirmed the formation of solid solution phase of Ti–Zr–N with different orientations. The results depicted that, the microhardness of Ti–Zr–N film increases with increasing the plasma-processing power to reach a maximum value of approximately 1050 HV0.015 at 200 W. Moreover, the tribological properties of AISI 316 coated with Ti–Zr–N were found to be superior compared with the uncoated sample. The wear rate of the coated sample at 225 W has a value of nearly 0.0034 mm3/Nm which is very low in comparison with AISI 316 substrate that has a value of 0.137 mm3/Nm. The biological properties of the examined samples were evaluated by investigating the proliferation of MC3T3-E1 osteoblast cells on the surface. The proliferation rate of the osteoblast cells was enhanced on Ti–Zr–N films prepared at low plasma power. It has been demonstrated that the surface roughness and surface energy besides the surface chemical compositions affect the tribo-mechanical and biocompatibility features of Ti–Zr–N surfaces.